Census Day brings renewed push for accurate count amid coronavirus fears

Members of Casa San Jose deliver up to 60 prepared lunches to neighborhoods across the Pittsburgh region as part of an effort to help families ordered to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tucked inside the food bags is a piece of paper with a phone number that people can use to complete the U.S. Census in Spanish.

Laura Perkins, emergency response organizer at the non-profit community resource center, said officials at Casa San Jose have been pushing for an accurate count for several months through text messages and educating people door to door about the once-a-decade survey.

Food distribution sites provide an additional way to spread that message, she said.

“If federal money comes to Beechview, it means it supports our community,” Perkins said, noting that a large number of the Latino community live in the Pittsburgh neighborhood.

The push for an accurate count was upended after the coronavirus that causes covid-19 swept the nation, with 5,805 cases reported in Pennsylvania as of Wednesday — which also was Census Day. Cases in Allegheny County rose to 356, while Westmoreland has 72.

Since census forms were distributed starting March 12, about 40% of the population in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties have filled out the survey, a self-response map shows. During the 2010 census, about 71% of people in both counties self-responded to the census.

Now, local leaders are looking to use the situation to educate communities about the census, which determines the allocation of congressional seats and determines how state and federal money is distributed.

While scheduled marketing events for the census were canceled as communities practice social distancing, local leaders are looking to spread the message virtually with a focus on how census-determined funds can benefit hospitals and emergency relief services.

“One of the things that we’ve really tried is to help people understand that, in your particular community, the roads that you have, the education, the health care, food access — now we’re all thinking about food access, the allocation of all those things locally are determined by the census,” said Mary Phan-Gruber, CEO of the Jefferson Regional Foundation, a grantmaking entity.

With several advertisements and radio spots launching on or around Wednesday’s Census Day, local complete count committees are working to draw a line on how census funds could impact health care needed to fight the pandemic.

“In our messaging, we’ve begun to elevate the important role of census data in the distribution of federal/state support for emergency relief services (in addition to all of the other reasons),” Gregg Behr, co-chair of the Allegheny County Complete Count Committee and executive director of The Grable Foundation, said in an email.

Similar steps are being taken through the Westmoreland Complete Count Committee. Phil Koch, executive director of the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County, noted that the committee waited to connect the census and covid-19 to ensure messages about the virus remained clear — something hospitals are now starting to push.

At Allegheny Health Network’s Jefferson Hospital, onesies reading “I count” were made for newborns and census materials were displayed in waiting rooms, Phan-Gruber said. Funds for the project were provided through a mini-grant program.

“Hospitals know that the census has an impact on community resources which allow residents to engage in prevention activities, recover more quickly when they are ill and have access to healthy food, housing, insurance and other essentials for healthy living,” said Gretchen North, hospital chair for the census initiative at Jefferson Hospital.

Going online

Local leaders also are enhancing their internet presence.

Funds awarded through a mini grant program in Westmoreland and Allegheny are being used to promote the census through social media, posters, phone banks and more.

The push became essential after the Census Bureau announced field operations were suspended until at least April 15 to help keep workers and community members safe. Field operations help census officials reach hard-to-count populations who might not fill out the survey on their own.

Officials are still working to complete the census by the original Dec. 31 deadline.

Despite this being the first year the census is offered online, the push does not come without some concerns, Phan-Gruber said, specifically for those with limited access to the internet who cannot rely on library access during this time.

“Some of the most connected members of the family tend to be younger people and a lot of them are home these days,” she said. “So we’re hoping that for some families who might have access or are given access through students having laptops, they can help a parent or family member through that process.”

For those who are connected, online census parties, messaging people and a push to have people show they filled out the census through social media can help create awareness and act as a reminder to fill out the survey.

So far, Phan-Gruber said she has seen communities rally together for an accurate count, much like she’s seeing communities working to ensure every person remains safe from the coronavirus.

“To see the kind of promising things that we see, even with covid-19, where people are volunteering, people are reaching out and realizing we’re all in this together,” she said. “That’s what will make a difference.

“Similar to the census initiative, communities and people coming together to say every voice counts. We want every voice to matter so how do we make everyone feel included?”